Chain-link fencing is formed of a multiplicity of like wire coils or spirals which are integrated so as to form a flexible and extremely durable mesh. The coils are interlinked with one another on so-called chain-link machines which weave with heavey-gauge vinyl-coated or galvanized wire, or with aluminum wire. The fence fabric so produced is of open construction and is generally rolled up into a large-diameter rolls for transport.
Such rolls of chain-link fencing are extremely bulky. The fencing fabric does not lend itself to being rolled up tightly. Thus the storage and transport of such rolls is expensive.
It has been suggested to overcome this considerable disadvantage by shifting the wire coils longitudinally relative to each other, that is by compressing the mesh formed by the coils in the plane of the mesh. This operation greatly increases the density of the fencing, but has the disadvantage that much of the structural stability of the fencing is lost so that the coils can come partially apart, thereby requiring the fencing to be painstakingly put together again would an accident occur. Furthermore when longitudinally compressed in this manner the ends of the coils frequently catch on each other and make it difficult to expand the mesh back to its original size.